Carbid-feeder.



" No. 821,332. I PATENTED MAY 22, 1906.

O. M. BRAUER. OARBID FEEDER.

APPLIQATION IILEDNOV. 25.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

mm co PHOYOYUYHOGHAPMERS wnsuwcrm u c PATENTED MAY 22, 1906.

0. M. BRAUER. OARBID FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED NDV.25.1905.

N'o.z 821,832.

2 snsms-smm 2.

aawawtoz I Hume/Jaw UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. o'rro M. BRAUER, OFMARSHALLTQWN, IOWA.

CARBlD-FEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

l'atentea May 22, 1906.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTO M. BRAUER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Marshalltown, in the county ofMarshall and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Carbid-Feeders, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to improvements in acetylene-gas generators, andparticularly to an improved construction of feeding mechanism for thecarbid.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved carbid-feedingdevice which will be certain in itsoperation and not liable to get outof order and which is provided with an improved construction of feedingdevices and agitating devices so arranged to cooperate in theiroperation that the latter will always insure that the carbid is fedproperly to the former, the said feeding devices being also so arrangedthat they may readily pass over lumps of carbid in their travel and willaccommodate themselves to the inequalities caused thereby withoutinjury.

For a full description of the invention and the merits thereof and alsoto acquire a knowledge of the details of construction of the means foreffecting the result reference is to be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawin s, in which- Figure 1 is a vertica sectionalview of my improved carbid-feeding device. Fig. 2 is a top plan viewthereof. Fig. 3is a detail perspective view illustrating the hood of theholder. Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view illustrating the spidercarrying the scraper devices and agitating devices. Fig. 5 is a detailview illustrating the pivotal connection between the scraping feeddevices and the Vertical shafts that carry the same.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followin descriptionand indicated in all the views 0 the drawings by the same referencecharacters.

Referring to the drawings, 1 designates the shell of the carbid-holder,which may be of any desired construction so far as its general structureis concerned, and 2 designates the feed-chute designed to convey theoarbid from the holder to the generating-tank. (Not shown.) In thepresent instance the said chute directly supports the carbid-holder,

and the latter is provided in its bottom 3 with .a central opening 4forthe passage of the carbid and with a central conical hood 5,

the loweredge 6 of whichextends somewhat beyond the margin of theopening 4 and is spaced vertically from the bottom 3 of the shell 1.

7 designates a vertical shaft, which has one of its hearings in theupper end of the shell 1 and which projects downwardly therefrom throughthe hood 5 and preferably to and through the opening 4. At apredetermined point-on the shaft 7 there is mounted a crossbar8,.provided with a sleeve 8, secured to the shaft by a set-screw, asshown, and each arm of the cross-bar 8' is provided with adownwardly-extending finger 9. A spider 10,, provided with any desirednumber of radial horizontallyextending arms 11, is formed with avertical tubular stem 12, inserted over and spaced from the lower end ofthe shaft 7, andthe said spider is provided at the upper end of saidstem 12 with an outwardly-projecting yoke 13, the two members ofwhichare provided with apertures 14, re-

ceiving the fingers 9, respectively. The said,

apertures 14 are preferably somewhat larger than the said fingers 9. IEach of the radial arms 11 of the spider 10 carries a vertical shaft 15,extending both above and below the arm. To the lower end of each shaft15 a scraping feed device 16 is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends,so as to rock or oscillate in a vertical plane. To the upper end of eachshaft 15 there is secured an agitator 17,

which is resilient or is resiliently mounted, so

that its free end will bear outwardly upon the body of carbid containedwithin the holder. The conical hood 5 may be secured within the shell 1in any desired manner, in the present instance brackets 19 beingutilized for this purpose.

In the practical operation of my improved carbid feeding mechanism it isto be assumed that the shaft 7 is connected to any suitable form ofmotor or other actuating mechanism. In the present instance I have showna wei ht-motor (designated 20) for this purpose; .ut it is to beunderstood that I am not limited to any particular mechanism for turningthe said shaft. As the shaft turns the scraping devices 16 will becarried around the body of the carbid contained within the shell 1, andowing to their tangential arrangement with respect to their line oftravel they will scrape the carbid into the central opening 4, throughwhich it will drop into the generating-tank. As the a itating devices orarms 17, which are preferably made of round or fiat spring-wire, arealso carried around the body of carbid above the scraping device 16,they will effect an agitation of the carbid and cause it to roll down infront of the scrapers, thereby preventing the carbid from becoming'caught or lodged in the lower contracted end of the holder.

It will be noticed that the openingin the stem 12 of the spider 10 islarger than the shaft 7, as are also the openings 14 in the yoke 13 withrespect to the fingers 9, which they accommodate. By this arrangement asthe shaft 7 is turned the fingers 9 will bring up against theoutwardly-extending portion of the yoke 13 to causeahorizontal'revolution of the spider 10 with its two sets of blades, andat the sametime the arrangement provides that the spider as a whole may slightlyrock and yield on the shaft 7, and thereby accommodate itself to anylumps of carbid that might otherwise tend to Wedge or work under thescrapers 16 and injure the mechanism. Owing to the fact that the devices 16 are pivoted intermediate their ends, so as to have a slightoscillatory movement, they may yield vertically at either end on theopposite end as a fulcrum and will independently swing up over any pieceofcarbid that might be in their way and maintain their circular path onthe bottom 3' of the holder without undue strain of theparts. In otherwords, by my invention I am enabled to providemeans for permitting theentire set of scraping devices to yield vertically in a body and alsoprovide means for allowing each of said devices to yield verticallyindependently of the others by the oscillatory movement above described.

It is to be understood that the spider is supported from downwardlongitudinal displacement solely by the engagement of the scraperdevices 16 on the bottom3 of the shell 1 and that, consequently, thespider 10 may yield bodily in an upward direction, as well as rock fromside to side to compensate for all the inequalities of the surface overwhich it travels, such inequalities being, for instance, produced by thewedging of the carbid underneath, one or more of the scraping devices.

It is to be understood that my invention is not limited to the detailsof construction or precise arrangement of parts before described, andillustrated in the accompanying drawin s.

Having thus described the invention, what is'claimed as new is 1. Acarbid-feed device comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a set of scraping devices in said holder, means forrevolving said scraping devices, and means whereby all of said devicesmay yield vertically as a body and also yield vertically oneindependently of the others.

2. A carbid feed device, comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a revoluble shaft mounted in said holder, a set ofscraping devices carried by said shaft, means whereby said devices mayyield vertically as a body on said shaft, and means whereby eachscraping device may yield vertically independently of the others.

3. A carbid-feed device comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a revoluble shaft mounted in said holder, a spideryieldingly mounted on said shaft to move in a vertical direction, and aset of scraping devices each of which is pivotally mounted on saidspider independently of the others and arranged to move vertically eachindependently of the others.

'4. A carbid-feed device comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a revoluble shaft mounted in said holder, a set ofscraping devices in said holder, a connection between said shaft andsaid scraping devices whereby the rotation of the shaft will effect therevolution of the scraping devices, means whereby the scraplng devicesmay yield as a whole vertically, and means whereby one scraping devicemay oscillate vertically independently of the others.

5. A carbid-feed device, comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a revoluble shaft mounted in said holder, a set ofscraping devices in said holder and designed to rest on the bottomthereof, means whereby. the rotation of said shaft will effect arevolution of said scraping devices and means whereby each scrapingdevice may rock vertically independently of the others.

6. A carbid-feed device, comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a revoluble shaft mounted in said holder, a spider insaid holder, scraping devices carried by said spider, means whereby saidspider may move freely in a vertical direction on the shaft, and meanswhereby a rotation of said shaft will effect a rotation of the spider.

7. A carbid-feed device, .comprising a holder provided with a bottomdischargeopening, a set of scraping devices mounted in said holder andresting on the bottom thereof, means for revolving the set ofscrapingdevices around the bottomof the holder, means whereby the set ofscraping devices may yield vertically as a body with respect to therevolving means, and means whereby each scraping device may yieldvertically independently of the others.

8. A carbid-feed device, comprising a holder provided with a bottomdischargeopening, a set of scraping devices in said holder and designedto rest on the bottom thereof, and means for revolving said scrapingdevices around the bottom of the holder,

said means including a vertically-yieldable holder provided with adischarge-opening, a hood within said holder, with its lower edge spacedfrom the bottom thereof and surrounding said discharge-opening, a spidermounted within the hood and provided at the outer ends of its arms withshafts, scraping devices carried on the lower ends of said shafts,agitators carried by the upper ends of said shafts, and means forrotating said spider.

10. A carbid-feed device comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a spider mounted in said holder, a vertical shaft 15carried by said spider, a scraping device pivotally mounted on the lowerend of said shaft, a spring-agitator secured to the upper end of saidshaft, and means for rotating said spider.

11. A carbid-feed device comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a revoluble shaft mounted in said holder, dependingfingers carried by said shaft, a spider provided with a yoke havingapertures receivmg said fingers, whereby the rotation of the shaft willimpart movement to said spider, and a scraping device carried by saidspider.

12-. A carbid-feed device comprising a holder provided With adischarge-opening, a revoluble shaft within said holder a cross-barsecured to said shaft and provided with depending fingers, a spiderprovided with a stem surrounding and spaced from said shaft and alsoprovided with an apertured yoke receiving said fingers, and scrapingdevices carried by said spider.

13. A carbid-feed device comprising a holder provided with adischarge-opening, a

revoluble shaft mounted in said holder, a cross-bar secured to saidshaft and provided with two downwardly extending fingers, aspidersurrounding and spaced from said shaft and provided at its upper endWith an apertured yoke receiving said fingers, the said apertures in theyoke being of larger diameter than the fingers, and scraping devicesouter ends of said arms, agitating devices secured to the upper ends ofsaid shafts, scrapers secured to the lower end of said shafts andpivotally mounted thereon intermediate of their ends, said scrapersresting on the bottom of the holder, the said spider being furtherprovided with a tubular stem surrounding and spaced from the lower endof the said shaft and formed at its upper end with anoutwardly-projecting yoke, the arms of said yoke being formed withapertures loosely receiving the said downwardly-extending fingers, andmeans for revolving said shaft.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

OTTO M; BRAUER. Witnesses:

HAMLIN R. MILLER, FRANK G. PIERCE.

